We need to talk about “Severance”
The show Severance is so similar to the Sea Org that I am going to write several articles about it. This show is….. wow.
“You NEED to show change,” my mom said. She sounded desperate.
It was my last days in the Sea Org. I had been under 24 hour watch by Wella, an ethics officer, for months. I’d been confined to the basement at the Los Angeles Big Blue Scientology building.
My mom had already told me that I was going to be labelled a Suppressive Person, which meant excommunication from Scientology. I was actually trying to hide my excitement about that. That meant once I left they would not try to get me back under any circumstances. It was the cleanest possible cut away from Scientology.
But to get permission to leave, I had to write bullshit I didn’t believe, such as this section you see pictured above.
I needed to show regret, remorse, and an effort to make things right between me and Scientology.
Forget about the decades of hard work, long hours and low pay. None of that mattered.
What mattered was me showing I was on the path to goodness, even just a little bit, before they could or would release me from my billion year contract.
The Breakroom, so aptly named, in Severance is spot on. I love how the name has a double meaning. Little did anyone know, going in there for the first time, was to break you, the person. Yes. You will be broken by next level coercion and persistence.
Damn.
How it reminded me of so many times in the Sea Org where this happens. I’ve been at the receiving end and, to my chagrin, dished it out as well.
We truly believed it was the way. We had to help those who had lost sight of our purpose in the Sea Org.
We didn’t call it a “breakroom”, but it sure could have been. We called it “ethics department”.
And you didn’t leave until YOUR mind was changed.
After I wrote what you see above (which was four pages in total of the same type of stuff), I was soon allowed to forever leave the confines of Scientology and the Sea Org.
See, I couldn’t stay because I was such a bad person. I love how I wrote about how good the Sea Org is and how it was “all me” that was bad.
There is nothing ever done wrong by Scientology, the Sea Org or L. Ron Hubbard.
It’s you, oh wayward one, who needs regular trips to the breakroom to get your head straight.
Severance is spot on. Damn. Respect.
Basement of main building in big blue was real shaming, introverting final months of sea org just before they let you leave. Was mind numbing. Treated like scum of the bottom of the pool. Took me years after leaving to shed the stigma. You should never have been put through that . None of us should have. Thanks for the suggestion of "Severance".
This is outright abuse. You may not show bruises but what they do to your mind and soul is worse. Six years after I was done (backed out slowly), they told me I had to finish my conditions that I started 6 years earlier. My response was "and if I don't ?" I knew the real power was in my hands and they no longer had power over me. They knew I was no longer playing by their rules. So damn good to be out, glad you made it too.